Saturday, December 4, 2010

Blue Angel

As you can tell, I am having the time of my life with my new Flourishes stamps, and today's card, is no different. I'm entering this card in two of Flourishes Challenges: "Winter Whites" & "Doilies"Pardon the hazy look, it's a cloudy day and I had to Photoshop in some light. I don't like to tinker too much with pics, but it just didn't look good, it would've been pretty dark..

For the front of my card, I used Flourishes "Alleluia Angel" stamped in Sepia ink and colored in with Tombow Markers. I placed her over a Spellbinders Shapeabilities "In Spades" Pendant, for a lacy look, since I don't own any doilies. Then I highlighted the embossed areas with Distress Inks "Tumbled Glass" ink.I stamped "Christmas Music" for the background, in Opalite "Nordic Ice" and heat embossed it (Side note: I don't get this ink. Isn't it supposed to have a color to them? Am I missing something?).The pearls are from Prima and the ribbon is from Walmart, that amazingly matches the sea green/blue color perfectly!

I matted the inside with Bazzil's "Hazel" Cardstock. Then I sponged the inside of the card with more "Tumbled Glass" ink, and stamped the sentiment from the "Christmas Music" set. Then I stamped a flourish and some corner brackets from HOTP (Hot Off The Press) in "Desert Sand" ink.

I am really enjoying mixing and matching sets, I try not to mix different stamps from different companies but I just can't seem to help myself :) I'm loving my Flourishes so much I am so tempted to make another purchase, but it's near Christmas, so maybe around the New Year I can make another one. Another thing I'm hooked on lately, is sketches. I never was one to enjoy sketches, but I've realized that just because you used a sketch, you didn't steal anyone's idea. I really struggled with that thought. I hate using someone else's original idea, but every once in a while I see a great card with a neat idea and want to try it, but I usually don't. No one likes an idea stealer :( I'm having fun doing searches for unique sketches, for some new ideas :)

Amanda, there's so much here to love, and so much about your post I can relate to. First, your creativity is boundless! I don't think I ever noticed the beauty of this particular Spellbinders pendant before, but it's just gorgeous on your card. Fits the doilie requirement perfectly! Love the soft sponging and pearl accents and the muted but significantly there Music background. All your blues match so nicely. You always use Flourishes stamps so well! As for the photography issues and the mixing and matching of stamp sets, I'm right there with you. Finally, I've been into sketches lately, too, but it's surprising how often I'll start out with a sketch and then veer off in a totally different direction. Even if I end up not using the sketch at all, it at least was an inspiration jump off point. Wishing you luck with the challenges!